Guys and white chocolate... a correlation?

White chocolate... not a fan but my friends on the other hand, LOVE it. I should also probably mention that most of my friends are guys and whenever I ask them what they want me to make for them, they always say white chocolate macadamia nut cookies... le sigh. every single time. Even when I offer them things like nutella chocolate chip cookies or red velvet cheesecake bars, they always default to white chocolate macadamia nut cookies... le sigh again. My “ugh” reaction to white chocolate isn’t the only reason I hardly ever bake these cookies, there are other reasons as well. There’s no stash of white chocolate at home so I have to specially go to the store to get some and they’re so much more expensive than dark or milk chocolate which I can’t understand for the life of me because white chocolate isn’t even real chocolate, its mainly cocoa butter and sugar. Macadamia nuts are also not cheap... small bag for almost $6 at Trader Joes. But I’m seeing my San Diego friends for the first time in almost 9 months so I’ll make these for their sake haha

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter (softened)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1 cup white chocolate chips (or 6 oz chopped white chocolate baking squares, see below)

- Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl
- Cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy in another bowl (tip: cream the butter first, add the white sugar and cream until fully mixed before adding the brown sugar)
- Add the eggs and the vanilla
- Slowly add in the dry mixture, in about 3 batches, making sure each batch is fully mixed before adding the next one
- Add the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts
- Chill dough in the refrigerator for at least an hour before using it (prevents the cookies from being too flat)
- Heat oven to 375 F
- Drop spoonfuls of dough about 1 inch apart on a baking sheet (tip: I use a melon baller... gives you more uniform looking cookies)
- Bake for about 9-12 min or until lightly golden brown (tip: I usually under bake them because they’ll still be baking on the cookie sheet once you take it out of the oven since its still hot)

I chose this recipe because it makes sturdy cookies, making them easy to pack when traveling which is just what I needed. But, they were still soft when biting into them which is a must because I can’t stand crispy cookies, they have to be chewy. I've actually swapped out the white chocolate for semi-sweet chocolate before... recipe is still good. Give it a try!